Dog Portrait Workshop – Gwinnett

On Tuesday, I visited the Quinnett Quilter’s Guild in Snellville. This was the most fun group of women I’ve encountered in some time. At 170 members, there were probably just under 100 for their guild meeting. I lectured for an hour on my work and showed my quilts. Afterwards, they invited me to their officer/new member luncheon which was also wonderful. My hostess, Molly Samuel, helped me with everything and made me feel welcome. I do hope that they invite me again another time.

I didn’t take any pictures Tuesday, but about 20 of them came for a workshop yesterday on making a dog portrait — and I took many pictures. This meeting was in Lawrenceville — not far from where we were previously, but it had more small town charm. I love how Atlanta has peripheral towns that have that feel — but you’re still fairly close to good shopping opportunities.

I spent time talking about the process, going through how to draft a pattern, how to use technology, how to enlarge without the computer — and the part that is always a challenge — fusing. I fuse all the time so I don’t think twice about it — but I think it requires you to understand the whole front versus back issue. Reversing half the time & not the other can be confusing. I did see some lightbulbs go over a few heads during the workshop. That “AHA!” moment — always fun to see. I also counseled on the importance of making lemonade out of lemons. In fusing, you can always lay down another piece to cover up a place where the edges don’t overlap. You can also make your piece backwards — who’s going to know? Don’t want to cut and sew the sharp angles — straighten the line. It’s your piece.

I took my Chameleon quilt for reference. I spent some time talking about fabric choices and relative value.

In this picture, everyone is drafting. I gave them everything they needed — except they still needed to copy the image to the vinyl overlay. Everyone got very quiet during this stage.

This is my favorite part — the cutting!

And of course the fusing part is fun — watching the piece start to come to life.

Towards the end, I snapped a few quick shots over a few shoulders of the work that they had completed.

(This one was purple — but my camera was determined to make it look blue.)

Most all of them were on their way to finishing. I am hoping that they will email me pictures of their completed pieces that I can share.

It was a wonderful adventure, and — I think — a good time was had by all!